


Weight of the World

by Katieb18



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dystopia, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Teenagers, Vaccines, Work In Progress, young adult
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 07:19:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17055590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katieb18/pseuds/Katieb18
Summary: Eli was one of the first selected for a special program in which he has no choice. A vaccine that was supposed to eradicate the need for people to go to school, enabling them to work younger and longer. As part of the first though Eli experiences, an unexpected side effects that gives him a lot more knowledge than they wanted him to have, and who is that person that he could hear constantly in his head?





	Weight of the World

Eli’s mind was racing. That’s what they said would happen to him once he got the vaccine. What they didn’t say was that the pressure was painful enough to drive him to his knees, clutching his head in agony. He was among the first selected for the special programme ‘T-CFS’. It stood for Trial- Conscience knowledge substitution but everyone called it the ‘Too Cool for School’ programme instead. It was a programme that was working to develop a vaccine that would give the receiver a plethora of general knowledge and eradicate the need for them to go to school. It wasn’t lost on Eli that while he was the among the first to be ‘selected’ for this programme, there was no parental consent involved, and they went to the poorest schools in the district for the candidates. Instead, it was like an old movie where all the men would wait to hear their name being called out for the war, feeling a sense of dread as they were made fight in something they wanted no part in. While he knew that this was not along the same lines as dying for a political cause, he couldn’t help make the comparison because even though he might be from one of the poorest schools in the district and didn’t have a parent to say no on his behalf, that didn’t mean he was an idiot. The problem with the people running these programmes was that they always equated being poor with being dumb as if the class you were born into was a reflection of your intelligence. Just like the young men in the war movies that were drafted, Eli knew his name would be put in as a prime candidate because he ticked all their boxes; No family, No money, failing in school and, the most important of all, he failed the exam that was handed out months before this programme became public knowledge. He had no one to blame but himself and he knew that. The first two things were circumstances out of his control. His mother who apparently had no family of her own died in childbirth and his father was never known. The no money is self-explanatory, who’s going to give him money? The government are barely willing to give him food, let alone extra money ‘just because’. Eli was man enough to admit that he was resentful of the people who did have new things or money for extra food, or even clothes that weren’t second hand which led to him not performing well in school and deliberately failing tests that were too easy for him. He was also man enough to admit that it was the resentment towards everybody else that landed him in this situation. 

He felt like he was going to die from the pressure in his head any second now and all he felt was regret that he wouldn’t be able to accomplish all the things on the list he started when he was ten. Who knew that it would only be five short years after he began that list that his life would be at risk? Eli clenched his jaw when the pressure turned to just pure pain, trying not to cry out and give the men with the clipboards watching him the satisfaction of hearing his pain. It was enough they had to see it. His eyesight began to blur and Eli wasn’t sure if it was the vaccine or the tears but either way he was losing his sight. At least he would go knowing that the assholes weren’t successful in the vaccine, it was only a small victory but he’d take it. Then it all stopped. The pain was gone as if it were never there, to begin with. Eli slowly opened his eyes and took his hands out of his now, extremely dishevelled brown hair, glancing up one of the three men staring down at him. Apparently, that was all the invitation they needed.

“Mr Brody? How do you feel? Any more discomfort or pressure?” The one in the middle asked the other two with their pens at the ready to start taking notes. 

Eli scoffed as if he was going to give them any information. “No difference,” He spat out, just to see the looks of disappointment on their faces. Instead of being disappointed though, they all just looked back down and began to scribble on their clipboards. 

The one in the middle cleared his throat, he was obviously the spokesperson. He had two prominent front teeth that dug slightly into his lower lip; Eli decided to nickname him Mousy. “It can take anywhere from twenty-four to seventy-two hours to kick in. We’ll check back in with the orphanage in four days to see if anything has changed.” The retort that Eli had ready died on his lips, they weren’t keeping him here? 

“Why am I going back to the orphanage, don’t you need to monitor me?” He asked instead, attempting to be civil so that he might get an answer from them. 

Mousy looked uncomfortable with his question, glancing around the room they were in. “Well, we can’t hold you here without having to pay for it and because you have no means of paying for a room you’ll have to go back to the orphanage.” He explained.

Eli couldn’t believe it. They weren’t letting them stay here because it was only for rich people who could afford it. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew coming here that it was a facility that a lot of the wealthy people attended for the luxury vaccines. They just didn’t want him here in case someone actually saw him and realised he wasn’t paying. 

“So you’ll shoot us up with a vaccine that you aren’t sure about and put our lives at risk but can’t risk us staying a few nights? What if we have a bad reaction to the vaccines?” He asked, anger colouring his tone. 

Mousy was the one to answer again. “That is unfortunate and we have taken every precaution to ensure that no one has an adverse reaction, but as with any trial, there is also some spoiled data.” 

All the tension left his body at Mousy’s response and he slumped back down. Spoiled data? It was as if they weren’t even human. He supposed to people like them they weren’t. Who was going to fight for someone that was taking precious resources for the state? Resources that could be better spent on things such as another golf course, or more luxury vaccines. It was disheartening to hear that he was less than a person to these people though, no matter how much he was told that he didn’t matter on a daily basis. Instead of continuing his argument he just sighed. 

“Fine. Just bring me back now, please. I don’t want to contaminate the place with my poorness any more than I already have.” He spat, standing up slowly, afraid to move his head too quickly as it still felt highly sensitive after that horrible vaccine they gave him, not that he’d ever tell them that. His attempt at subtlety wasn’t successful though because as they watched him get up they began to scribble furiously again. It took everything in Eli not to clutch his head when he was standing. The room began to swim before his eyes and it felt like he was floating, he tried closing his eyes but that only made it worse; instead, he gritted his teeth and tried his best not to throw up all over Mousy and his gang. 

“You can’t go just yet. We have to wait for everyone else in the trial to be ready before bringing you back.” Eli almost forgot about the rest of the kids that were brought on the same bus as him. All from different school districts but all equally as poor if the ill-fitting clothes and tired look that only the poorest of kids seemed to have was any indication. Breathing deeply through his nose, he turned his head slowly. His vision was only coming back and the queasy feeling was slightly gone. He didn’t want to set it off but also wanted to see how the rest of the other kids were doing. There was eight of them including him, five boys and three girls. He hadn’t spoken to any of them on the way here and none of them looked too inclined to speak to him either. There was nothing to say. It was quite obvious that none of them had a choice in this, it seemed asinine to try and make small talk. One girl was in tears, pulling at her hair. Eli felt a pang of sympathy for her; the pain of the vaccine was like nothing else. 

_It gets worse later._

Eli’s head whipped to the right at the sudden voice. There was no one there though. Strange. Must be one of the side effects. He turned to ask Mousy about it but a sudden yelp from across the room stopped him. The boy that sat next to him on the bus on the way up was coughing up blood, splattering the white-coated men that stood around him. Everyone stood still in shock for a long moment before all of the white coats jumped into action, all rushing to get him out of the room, screaming about contamination to the other ‘subjects’. It was only seconds later that the boy was dragged out, a trail of blood left behind as he went. Eli hoped beyond hope that he would be okay but from the way they were treated so far, he knew it was wishful thinking.  
“Everyone line up. It’s time to leave.” One of the men called. All of them did as they were told, afraid of being dragged away like that boy was. They were brought out what looked like the staff entrance and were told to keep as quiet as possible. That wasn’t difficult since just walking in a straight line was taking all of Eli’s energy at the moment. The other kids didn’t look like they were interested in being noisy either. It didn’t stop the white coats from constantly shushing them with a sneer on their faces. They were all packed onto the bus, sitting in the same places as on the way up, minus the one boy that was taken away. The bus journey back home was as uneventful as the way up was, the only difference was the sharp pains that would come at random intervals. It took everything in Eli not to bring his fingers up to his temples to massage his throbbing head. He knew if he did then he’d be monitored way more closely than he wanted to be. 

_Good thinking._

Definitely one of the side effects. It had to be or else he was just going crazy, which wasn’t out of the realm of possibility in fairness. He hoped he was one of those loud crazy people who went around shouting about how bad the government actually was. There was something to be said for being crazy, he mused. If this whole running away thing didn’t pan out then that was plan b. It was admittedly a weak plan but what else did he have? 

“Brody, out.” Hearing his last name snapped him out of his inner musings, bringing him back to the reality of now. He was back at the orphanage, joy. The place that he never considered home was an eyesore even in this area. A weather rusted sign that declared ‘Sunny Homes Orphanage’ on the gate was marked with graffiti that no one had bothered to wash off. The actual home itself was anything but sunny. The three-story house was painted an off yellow colour that had turned into a murky brownish orange with the weather. The red brick that was dotted around the edges of the house was crumbling with decay, many of them missing. There was little grass to be seen, mostly from the number of kids that trampled on it every day for the past sixteen years that Eli lived there. Hail, rain or shine, they had to go out every day for their half hour of exercise, which mostly consisted of them running laps. Your age was the number of laps you had to do in the half hour. Eli hated that part of his day with a passion.

A wave of dizziness hit him when he stood up, he shuffled past the other kids on the bus, ignoring them in favour of not tripping over and letting them know just how bad he was from the vaccination they gave him. 

One of the men at the front of the bus rolled down the window to speak to him when got off. “We’ll be back in five days. You better be here.” They took off without another word to Eli. He stood watching the bus as it drove out of sight, afraid to move from the pain that was now constantly shooting through his head. He should probably lie down before it got worse, a quick glance around showed that wasn’t an option though. He could see shadows moving around him, giving away that he was being watched. It was common here though, anyone that stood around too long was leaving themselves open to being robbed or beaten. There was also the strange rivalry between the only two orphanages in the area, as if where the social workers placed them mattered at all. Right now though, was not the time for him to be standing in front of sunny homes. He needed to get inside quick, which was proving a lot more difficult than he expected as his feet seemed to be stuck to the pavement. The eyes he could feel were getting closer and yet he couldn’t move. Why couldn’t he move?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is completely different to what I normally do and is an original work so I would really appreciate all the feedback you can give. Thanks for reading it and let me know what you think. Also follow me on twitter if you want to see when I update!
> 
>  
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/fanfic_katie/)


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